


And Nothing Stands

by ghostking (Herebeinsanity)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: (only hinted at), Angst, F/M, It's permadeath folks, Just what it says on the tin, Percy Dies, Spoilers for ep 56 (ish), percy pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 15:01:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8166053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Herebeinsanity/pseuds/ghostking
Summary: Percy dies. But not fighting Ripley. Or even Thordak.It is, quite hilariously, the same way he killed Vex for that brief moment. A wayward step after an enemy has fallen, and someone too close to death's door to make it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote the bulk of this back in July, and then last week happened (episode 68) and suddenly I had a brand new wave of inspiration to finish this! So! It's an hour until 69 airs and we find out what's gonna happen, why not post this now while there's an outpouring of de Rolo centered angst?
> 
> Title from Shakespeare's Sonnet 60

It's dark. Why can't he see? Where is he? Are they in the Feywild? Dear gods, did someone anger a nymph again?

"Percy!"

Whoever's calling him needs to come closer, he can barely hear them.

"No, no, come on, wake up,"

Something, a bottle, a vial, is shoved into his mouth. Ugh, potions taste even worse when mingled with blood. Wait.

Why was he tasting blood?

Ah, that must be what the potion was for. Except the potion doesn't help much. He still can't see. He still tastes blood.

_ Pain. _

Oh gods, so much pain. Like someone tore a hole through his chest, why is he in so much pain? Has his time finally come? What couldn't he fix? What did he do?

"Percy, can you hear me?"

Of course he can. He nods, but the pain is too much. He opens his mouth to answer, but he can't.

Oh no, no no no, what if he wasn't the only one hit? What if whatever he did hurt the others?

"A-are you o-" he coughs, the pain spiking, but he pushes through, he has to know. "Is everyone alright?"

She laughs, wet, and it sounds more like sobs than any sound of mirth. "Yes, we're all okay."

His vision starts to clear, he can see a bit of light. Vex is above him, he can see. But beyond that is blurred beyond recognition.

She's crying, he notices dimly, he feels hot tears dripping onto his cheek.

He lifts a hand, trembling more than it should, to wipe away her tears. She shouldn't be sad. Why is she sad?

"What- what happened?"

"We missed a trap." She sniffs. "I forgot to check. Stupid."

"Happens to the -" he coughs, and  _ ow _ , this hurts, "the best of us."

It's starting to come back, little by little. Her footstep sounded wrong. He rushed forward. He pushed her away. Ah, good. She was safe. Better he take the hit than her.

"The -" she sobs, "the potions aren't working. And, and something about it won't let us heal you."

"Ah. I see." He was going to die, then. He was less okay with that than he expected.

Two years ago, he'd have been more than willing to jump into certain doom, ready for the guilt to swallow him whole. But now... Now he had a family, didn't he?

He had Vox Machina. The S.H.I.T.'s.

They certainly weren't a normal family, and most definitely weren't a perfect family. Vax still is too wary of Percy, and Keyleth seems... Different now. More hostile. They've changed her. But they were still family.

For the second time in his life, he was going to lose his family, wasn't he?

Not only that, he was going to lose Vex .

He’ll never see Vex again. Never see her happy again. And that almost hurts more than whatever happened to him. 

Two years ago, he would have died, happy to atone for his sins. But now, he wants to live. Really, truly live. And not  _ just _ live, he wants to survive, and thrive, and one day have a family. Children.

He wants to live at Whitestone, free from the threat of dragons, free to live a quiet, or as close to quiet as he can get with Vox Machina, and peaceful life. He wants the sound of tiny de Rolo footsteps pattering down the halls to echo down to the library again. He wants a legacy in more than just a name. And he wants… well, he can’t have that now, can he. 

He can just barely see his friends, his family, huddled around him. He can feel that his head is in Vex’s lap, but he knows that each of them is keeping hold on him in some way too, whether for his comfort or theirs, well, it doesn't matter.

Both his hands are being held, one each by Pike and… Vax, to his surprise. Keyleth is next to Vex, and he can see she’s trying not to cry, trying to be strong, but she’s gripping his bicep so hard it's almost painful. Grog isn’t crying, of course, but he looks grim, incredibly so, and Percy knows that is a bad sign. Scanlan… Scanlan is silent. And it's that moment, right there, seeing Scanlan completely and utterly silent and blank-faced, that Percy knows he is going to die. 

He panics. Just internally, he won't let his family be worried in his final moments. But he does. Because this is bad, isn't it? He is dying. Actually dying. No quick spells to save him from the brink, no potions, they are trapped here, and nothing is working, he is going to die. 

It's too soon, he has to protect them, has to build more arrows, the broom could be safer, his weapons are still out there in the world. He has to be there to be the voice of reason when Pike can't be. He has to have their backs. He can't die. 

But he is dying. 

“I love you all.” He didn't get to say it to his first family, before he lost them, and oh yes. “Please tell Cass, that I, that I am sorry, and I love her too.”

“Shh, stop, you'll be okay, you can tell her yourself,” Vex says through tears. And this is the goodbye Percy least wants to make. 

“Vax?” He asks. “you're sure?”

Vax nods. “She says it's your time.”

“Alright. Then Vex'ahlia, dear, I love you. Never forget, you're my favourite. I'll miss you so.”

Above him, he sees a mask. White, smooth, haloed by darkness. So it  _ is _ his time, after all. 

Vex is shaking above him. “Don't you dare,” she says, “not now. Tell me this when you're better, darling.”

Percy shakes his head, and it's painful, pain above pain, but he continues. “No, she's already here waiting for me. I've got to go. I don't want to, but I have to. But I want to say this. I love you, Lady Vex'ahlia.”

He knows someone will find his mother's ring, tucked away in a box in a drawer of his workshop, waiting for a time when he could give it to her, and he knows that it will cause grief at its discovery and not joy, but he's run out of time, out of words. He's fading, faster and faster. 

“Time to go, Percy,” Vax says, squeezing his hand. He seems almost as if he has wings, and the wings are above him, around him, encircling him and Vex, holding off his patron for just a moment longer. 

“Thank you.”

“Of course.”

Vex shakes her head. “No, you're not going. You can't go. You can't.” She doubles over, and covers him, shields him, as if she could keep his soul within his body with the force of her will. “You  _ can't _ .”

“Darling, I must.”

“I love you,” she sobs out, holding him tight. 

The wings fall back, and Percy doesn't feel the pain any more. He smiles up at Vex and 

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, it ends there.  
> <3


End file.
